Don Quixote de la Mancha was a novel published in 1605. That was before the Jamestown Colony in Virginia and before Wall Street. Don Quixote was a bored, destitute landowner who in his spare time read stories of knights of old and heroes and damsels in distress.

Yearning for a bit more zip in his humdrum lifestyle and needing some fortune, Don Quixote dressed himself up in armor and mounted his super thin horse Rocinante and set out upon the world. Contrasted with his chubby squire or aide Pancho Sanza and Pancho’s donkey, the two cut a literary and visual image known worldwide; tall thin, Don Quixote and short, round Pancho Sanza are forever with us.

Don Quixote represented the dreamer and Pancho Sanza the cold realist. Together they stumbled and fumbled their way to adventure; our man Quixote fighting windmill giants and armies of sheep. Sancho managing to just keep our man Quixote from falling in. The figure he cuts thrusting his lance upward toward a windmill epitomizes the quest for quest’s sake and the universal struggle for meaning. Or something like that. But just how does Don Quixote correlate to the modern day start up?

First off many start ups are fanciful dreams, much as Don Quixote imagined windmills to be threatening giants. Working some start-ups is the equivalent of dressing up in armor and fighting windmills. Fed by little more than a dream and sometimes little else, those that work in these fanciful ventures will make less, work more and almost assuredly end up going to another one when this one crashes. The danger is that once you actually do one you are hooked. It is a well known fact there is no thrill like a start-up thrill.

But why even try something that has a high probability of failure?

For the experience, stupid, might be Don Quixote’s reply in one of his more lucid moments. Start ups sometimes are often made of up a handful of employees comprising the ‘team’. This team is it; management, production and marketing all in one package. No where else other than a start up can one find that kind of experience. Peter Drucker, perhaps the 20th century’s most eloquent management theorist, made the statement that if a job isn’t challenging enough and helps you develop, you should find another.

As I look back over my career I can see that I’ve been involved with several dozen projects. On some, I was the leader. In others, a cog in the start up machine. Each one of these projects either honed a current skill or gave me a new set of skills. Often these skills were not apparent until after the project or even until years later.

Of course I naively threw myself headfirst into anything I was working on. This is what the pundits call being engaged. Because I was engaged, I cared. And because I cared, I was engaged. Each project became a personal project; one that I owned and developed a strong series of emotional ‘bonds’ to.

It is because of this engagement and corresponding emotional attachment that the experiences were so strong and the new skill sets so thoroughly learned. Often my colleagues would make fun of me but I didn’t care. I was having fun at least and when I saw the dud projects they were working on I made fun right back. It seems I was always working on something interesting, though I can’t remember ever doing an exciting company manual…

My colleagues made fun of me because I wasn’t making their fees. In hindsight I wonder if there also wasn’t a tinge of jealousy. I was always so excited and upbeat and they were always so, well let’s just say not very happy. My happiest times in business were working on some absurd Don Quixote windmill project.

And I had some real winners: online auto parts, online blue collar recruiting, farmworker cooperative, depressed area economic development, language acquisition, security and anti-theft development and so on. Most ended up requiring original research and extensive whiteboarding. In fact on one of these projects I whiteboarded for six straight months. Where else could that type of experience happen?

But start ups end. They fold, merge, get bought out, and fade into the business sunset. Sometimes even succeed.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the dance. As time went by, I put more and more of these windmills under my belt. I didn’t pay them much attention, but my skills and capabilities had taken a major step upward. And I could tell my colleagues were right there in their comfort zone where they assured their own perpetual stagnation or Drucker’s non-development.

To my surprise I had gotten better, much better, and they had not. Where once a colleague and I had roughly the same abilities, five years of doing Quixotic projects had vaulted me way ahead. The funny thing was I could tell and they could tell and it irritated the heck out of them. They even stopped kidding me. But what could I say?

And thanks to my Quixote projects my ‘traditional’ projects seem to be easier too. After one spends months attempting the impossible, a creative marketing plan or internal reorganization seems so much easier. That’s because it is.

I don’t mind that on occasion I’m still teased for being Quixote. There are worse things. But I will say this. I wouldn’t trade a single one of my windmills for a stack of ho-hum snoozer contracts. Life is just too short to sleep through it…

But seriously, somebody has to keep a close eye on those windmills or they can very quickly get out of hand…

Jack D. Deal aka Don Quixote is the owner of Deal Business Consulting. Related articlesmay be found at http://www.jddeal.com and http://www.freeandinquiringmind.typepad.com

Segregating a single process into two different tasks is necessary because both the tasks are quite different from each other. If responsibility were not allocated properly, it would become quite impossible to identify the root cause of a given problem if something were to go wrong during the implementation.

How To Work With Process Owners

Process owners are generally current leaders or managers, but depending on the immediate needs, an organization can hire Six Sigma experts from outside to render their services in the capacity of process owners. Before selecting a process owner, management can conduct any number of due diligence exercises it thinks is necessary for checking the skills and talents of potential candidates. However, after a candidate has been selected, he/she should be given complete freedom to handle the tasks involved. Described below are some qualities to look for while selecting a process owner.

-Should have requisite experience and extensive knowledge of the process
-Should have an eye for detail so as to identify ineffective processes
-Should have the ability to inspire and motivate team members
-Should be an effective communicator
-Should have the aptitude for coping up with unforeseen problems
-Should be able to gain the respect and admiration of team members so as to ensure their full cooperation and support
-Should display a fair level of receptiveness to new ideas and suggestions

The process owner should be given the right to seek any number of suggestions or input from other stakeholders associated with the project without the liability of actually implementing any of these. Sometimes, organizations appoint a process owner to work under a qualified Six Sigma professional such as Black Belt or Master Black Belt. Sometimes both are called in to discharge their duties as partners, but all these combinations often fail to deliver results because in the first case, it may lead to ego clashes and in the second it may lead to improper allocation of responsibilities.

Selecting Project Team Members

After selecting a process owner, the next big task is to select the project team members who will perform their duties under the guidance of both the project manager and the process owner. Here also, the process owner should have the ultimate say in the selection process so as to avoid potential ego issues that might surface in the near future. The project manager can no doubt convey his recommendations, but it is the process owner who should stamp the final seal of approval.

Giving such powers to process owners may seem undemocratic, but in the business world it hardly matters whether a proposed thought or strategy is democratic or not as long as it achieves the objectives; which in this case, is carrying out the implementation effectively and within the stipulated time and costs.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

1. You don’t make people feel safe when they order.
Remind people that they are ordering through a secure
server. Tell them you won’t sell their e-mail address
and all their information will be kept confidential.

2. You don’t make your ad copy attractive. Your ad
lists features instead of benefits. The headline does
not attract at your target audience. You don’t list any
testimonials or guarantees included in your ad.

3. You don’t remind people to come back and visit.
People usually don’t purchase the first time they visit.
The more times they visit your site, the greater the
chance they will buy. The most effective way is to give
them a free subscription to your e-zine.

4. You don’t let people know anything about your
business. They will feel more comfortable if they know
who they are buying from. Publish a section called
“About Us” on your web site. Include your business
history, profile of employees, contact information etc.

5. You don’t give people as many ordering options as
possible. Accept credit cards, checks, money orders,
and other forms of electronic payments. Take orders
by phone, e-mail, web site, fax, mail, etc.

6. You don’t make your web site look professional.
You want to have your own domain name. Your web
site should be easy to navigate through. The graphics
should be related to the theme of your web site.

7. You don’t let people read your ad before they get
your freebie. When you use free stuff to lure people
to your web site include it below your ad copy or on
another web page. If you list the freebie above your
ad they may never look to see what you’re selling.

8. You don’t attract the target audience that would
buy your product or service. A simple way to do
this is to survey your existing customers to see what
attracted them to buy. This information will help
you improve your target marketing and advertising.

9. You don’t test and improve your ad copy. There
are many people who write an ad copy and never
change it. You have to continually test and improve
your ad copy to get the highest possible response
rate.

10. You don’t give people any urgency to buy now.
Many people are interested in your product but they
put off buying it till later and eventually forget about
it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount
and include a deadline date when the offer ends.
—-

You want to know what the secret is to making money online? Here it is. It’s the hardest part of the whole thing and it’s what most people fail at. Ready… GET STARTED! That’s it! Ain’t much harder than that, but that’s the step that kicks most people’s rear. To learn how you can make money online, start by going to my website: http://www.greathomebusiness.ws
Submitted by: Article Submitter